Cops probe vandalism of rainbow flag at Sterling College

CRAFTSBURY - Officials at a Vermont college said police are investigating a series of vandalism incidents, including the egging of a building that had been hanging a rainbow flag to recognize the victims of the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando.

Sterling College President Matthew Derr, who is gay, told Vermont Public Radio (http://bit.ly/29DsDiP ) the incidents at the Craftsbury college began on June 16 following the mass shooting last month.

“We thought it was meaningful to recognize the terrible events in Orlando by hanging a pride flag on the front of our faculty office building and our admission office,” Derr said. “A beautiful rainbow flag right there on North Craftsbury Road, and we were surprised that the next day that that building was egged.”

An American flag that was flying at half-staff was then ripped from the front of Derr’s home and thrown to the ground, he said. Several days later, Black Lives Matter lawn signs were stolen from campus.

Nothing has happened since then, college officials said, but Derr plans to have a community conversation after students return in the fall. The college will also continue to replace the lawn signs and prominently display the pride flag, Derr said.

“We’re not immune from that ugliness,” he said. “It’s here, it’s part of the fabric of our country. And that’s why higher education exists, to try to break down those barriers and to be able to create a civic dialogue that lifts people up.”

Craftsbury select board member Susan Houston said she considers the town friendly and neighborly and called the incidents saddening.